Setting Sun
by Sombereyes
Summary: ...because sometimes, the answers will never come by the questions we ask.


I've been wanting to do something Yukino and Haruka centric for a long while, and well, this is it…just a one-shot.

**Setting Sun**

Her pen scribbled itself haphazardly across the paper, unknowingly following patterns that she had already done so many times before. Around and around, the spiral of ink upon the otherwise empty white sheet was like a dark stain. One to be thoroughly gotten rid of. Still, the teen kept up her nervous habit, as the committee meeting ended for the day. Haruka was ranting, as usual. A boisterous mix of ideals best left ignored, and words that were completely out of context, slipped from her lips in such a way, that it outright demanded power.

Yukino was sure that even Haruka didn't know what she was saying anymore. The blond tended to go on tirades when she was emotionally worked up, and, if anyone could instill such a feat by merely blinking the wrong way, it was the student council president, Shizuru Fujino. Haruka's bluster was squarely aimed at the tawny haired woman, spitting heated invectives as her only sour reply to the calm and collected woman.

Yukino had long since given up trying to correct such a thing an hour before, knowing it was a double edged sword, and her tongue could very well end up being the prosecutor she ought not to be. To stop Haruka now was a failed endeavor, and it would embarrass her friend, who's rein as the executive committee's leader was coming to an end. She couldn't do that to Haruka, though, she could, and did, stare at the young woman in awe.

Her words, while nonsensical, were raw with authority, and her entire posture stood as little more than a pillar of absolute strength. _Then again, Haruka's conviction knows no bounds._ Yukino thought to herself with a smile.

Her eyes never left their task of watching Haruka's back. It was much to Yukino's dismay that the brazen young woman, for better or for worse, always seemed to be reactionary. She withheld a sigh, licking her dry lips, and partaking of the tea in front of her. An all too happy Reito seemed to smile from his place, and she nodded to him unthinkingly with gratitude.

Then, she resumed that tired old tradition of doodling during long meetings. Half of what Haruka said didn't need to be repeated anyway, and Yukino had long since learned to only briefly summarize the rants her friend would go on.

As the group adjourned the long, boring meeting pertaining to graduation preparation, Yukino could only lean back in her chair, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried, for the umpteenth time since the HiME battle, to somehow explain away her feelings. The pang in her heart had been growing stronger. After almost losing the person she used to think of as little more than a very dear friend, she knew it was only a matter of time.

She couldn't risk losing Haruka again, yet, she was sure the heated feelings of the moment were lost to Haruka, who approached every problem with a raging inferno of emotion. Haruka was, if nothing else, a very passionate woman in everything she did.

That was one of her finer qualities, albeit one of her most difficult ones. Yukino couldn't muse about that any longer, however, when a pair of deeply searching lavender eyes found hers. "Hey, is something the matter, Yukino?" Haruka asked, her golden locks framing her face, as one immaculate eyebrow raised in both concern and confusion greeted her. "You've been a little off today."

"No, not at all." Yukino replied, pushing her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. "The meeting dragged on, you see. I was merely lost within my own thoughts on the matter." She replied as she stood from her chair. "I have a lot to put into consideration. If I'm to inherit the executive committee from you, I have a lot to prepare for."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Haruka said, yet her gaze stayed fixated, and, with her usual bluntness she shook her head. "What's going on, besides that?" She could tell something was lurking deeply between the two of them, and left well enough alone. Haruka, while many things, wasn't completely blind to the people she cared about, especially not after the hell of her senior year. To say that it was larger than life itself went without saying, and the facts surrounding the incident made her uneasy. She didn't have a clue about what to do with Shizuru, and their rivalry had turned vicious as a result. "I mean, the red thing…its gone now, right?"

"It disappeared." Yukino agreed, suddenly feeling her legs begin to quake with a hint of fear. "The HiME mark was only supposed to last through the carnival." She averted her gaze, the desk nearby seeming to hold her interest as her chest constricted painfully. "Theoretically, we have nothing to worry about anymore."

Haruka huffed out an unsteady breath. "Uh, Kuga and Fujino are really weird now." Haruka said then, giving Yukino a very weary glance. "All of the HiME that you said had pairs, well, they're not exactly normal, are they?" It was stupid to feel so odd, and she wanted to tread lightly, or rather, as lightly as Haruka was capable of. "So, does that mean what I think it means?"

"Every HiME has a most important person." Yukino agreed. "You are indeed mine, but that relationship can be anything, so long as it's important. It could be mother and child, like Nao. Or some sort of deep, inexplicable friendship, like Mikoto."

"Or weird like Kuga and Fujino." Haruka bit out, a shiver working its way down her spine in disgust. "Right?"

"Well, there is that as well." Yukino relented, she hadn't come clean about her romantic feelings towards Haruka, but, that was largely in part of her uncertainty to Haruka's reaction. She was unsure if Haruka truly felt adversely to gay couples, or if it was just because Shizuru and Natsuki, who Haruka wasn't particularly fond of anyway. "I suppose if you really wanted to dig around into it, you could say that they were an unusual case." Yukino relented, though it her mind it was much less because of the nature of their relationship, and more due to Natsuki's ability to call back her power once having lost it. That little matter had always baffled Yukino to some degree.

"That's not what I meant." Haruka said then, tapping her foot restlessly as she crossed her arms in thought. "You know, Fujino is just the sort of person I would expect to be a mastermind under that dopey look she always seems to have."

The barb at Shizuru's expense let Yukino know that Haruka wasn't as addled by this conversation as her outward appearance let on, and so, Yukino licked her lips, and decided to tread carefully into otherwise unknown and murky waters. "Romantic feelings, however misplaced, would still make a relationship important to the person. As long as that happens, it's entirely possible to call forth those monsters we used to fight with."

Haruka coughed, and scratched the side of her head in a rather unladylike aggravation. "Sounds kinda complicated." She didn't like complicated, it always served to get her into trouble.

"It is, and you shouldn't worry about it." Yukino replied, a soft smile gracing her face at the mix of emotions that played across Haruka's face at any given time. She was so open and easy to read, without all of propriety found among others of their own age range. "It'll just bring more trouble around to keep thinking about the past."

"I'm going to worry." Haruka nearly barked, stubbornly gazing back at her friend. "I've got to be, because it seems like no one else will." Her eyes were so clear, her voice as demanding a tone as ever, and her petulance seemed to shine through the entirety of her very heart. "What if Fujino tries something on you next time?"

"I promise, her feelings are for Natsuki alone. They would never reflect onto me. Even if that did somehow, impossibly happen, Fujino has been rendered fairly harmless." Yukino said with a shake of her head. "The carnival is over, Haruka. You don't have to keep an eye on me anymore." Her voice got quiet then, barely there, as her good friend tried to read into fragile emotions. "It'll be alright, because we don't have a choice but to forget, and to move on." She knew Haruka would fail due to looking for the wrong thing for all the right reasons. "Anyway, it isn't something to worry yourself over. The HiME are fine, our most important people are in good health, and the students are beginning to block out all of the unpleasantness." As far as Yukino was concerned, now was as good a time as any to bury her feelings down into the depths once again, leaving matters unspoken.

It was after all, much less about cowardice, and much more about timing. Haruka was a very forward person. Belligerent and caught up into her own ideals that didn't have to agree with everyone else. Yukino was sure springing her feelings onto Haruka would alarm her, if not confuse and aggravate her. Still, she was almost positive that Haruka wasn't exactly picking up on the tiny hints Yukino sent her way. She wasn't blind, of course, but romance was an uncharted territory for the blond. "It's in the past, Haruka."

"It really is over, huh?" Haruka wasn't entirely convinced of that. Her gut told her otherwise. "This year has been really weird, Yukino…I mean, really, really weird." Then she grinned. "I was fighting armed guards for god's sake. I should be awarded a prize!" Haruka was kidding of course, but the acknowledgement of her feat, no matter how pointless it was, still held a secret importance deep within Haruka. "I can't believe it's coming to an end."

Yukino knew that, because Haruka always sought approval. "I'm sorry, I never meant to involve you. You had to see some really terrible things, because of me." Yukino replied with a harsh sigh that left her lips all too quickly for her own good. "How can I ever make up for that?"

"Don't say that kind of stuff." Haruka replied brushing the girl off. "You couldn't do anything about it anyway. You didn't tell those guards to come in here like that and start a rampage, and you didn't force Fujino to do...well, whatever she did." Haruka trailed off, unsure of herself. "Even your phone was acting weird, people sending you…things."

Seeing the conflict in Haruka's eye, her lack of knowledge on the matter troubled her greatly, and she took pity on the forthright blond. "Yes, you are right about that, I certainly didn't want to instigate anything." Yukino nodded just the tiniest bit. "However, it was my fault that I involved you at all. You wouldn't have disappeared, even for that short time, if I had been mindful of the implications."

Haruka just rolled her eyes. "Stop with the big words." She rounded the desk and flung the door open, looking out into the now empty hallway. "It's not like it matters anyway. I'm here right now, aren't I?" They were probably the last ones left inside of the school, besides those with club activities, and without waiting for a reply she began to walk off, grabbing the younger girl's hand and practically dragging her along. "Let's go, Yukino."

Side by side, they'd spent their life without restraint, as it was seen as arbitrary between them. Still, that heedless sense of comfort was one that Haruka thought little of, and Yukino knew one day, that would come back to bite her when she least expected it. Haruka was so open and honest about everything, her feelings shouted to the world about everything. So, even while Yukino diligently followed behind Haruka, hanging on her every word like a breath of air she sorely needed, Yukino knew that it wouldn't be more than that, for now.

The younger teen followed after her childhood friend, unsure of what Haruka had in mind, but then again, Yukino really didn't care. Haruka's hand was warm and her grip was gentle. Yukino could have broken out of the hold, but, truth be told, she never wanted to let go. She would take any excuse she could get.

Her feet stumbled along in the haphazard wake of students that parted like seas as they left club rooms. Her peers were gazing at them with the usual contempt and confusion, but to Yukino, those students were faceless, nameless, and merely shadows of her vision. Her eyes were gazing into Haruka's back, her breath rapid. A warmth crept up into her cheeks, and she slowed, breaking the hold by accident.

They came to a stop, and Haruka turned around only long enough to grab her hand again. "Yukino…" The blond haired girl admonished. "Don't fall behind."

Yukino just nodded. "I won't."

Haruka nodded, but, her smile didn't reach her eyes. Instead, she huffed a curse under her breath and dragged Yukino into the nearby class room, a frown dancing across her face. "Something's wrong, Yukino." She couldn't avoid the feeling in her gut anymore. "I don't know why I think that, but I do." She murmured, shaking her head, overwhelmed by what she couldn't say. "It changed you, ya know." She said, turning curtly on her heal, pacing. "You won't say anything."

"Haruka, I'm fine." Yukino protested, grabbing into Haruka's shirtsleeve to stop her from making a scene, even if no one was around to witness it. "I just…there are things that I can't let go of…and I know I should." Yukino explained. "But, if I do that, I can't guarantee that it will be for the better."

"What can't you let go of?" Haruka asked, an anger tinging her voice. "Tell me, I'll deal with it, so you don't have too."

"Shizuru Fujino wasn't wrong." Yukino said then, backing away slowly. "Harsh, yes…but she wasn't lying about anything." Her chest felt tight, and her heart became heavy. "Not her feelings, or mine."

"So, what's the big deal?" Haruka asked then, her eyes finding the rows of desks, eyeing the perfectly straight rows, knowing that was just how things appeared. Nothing was a straight line in her life, it never had been. "Fujino's right about a lot of things…but, she's also an idiot when it comes to other people…maybe if she wasn't so pushy all the time, she wouldn't have the problems she does."

She grabbed Yukino by the shoulders, and pinned her to the wall. "But you…you could do with being more like her. If it was you, then, maybe I wouldn't mind if it was weird." She was unsure if all of Yukino's little hints had added up to this one, defining moment. Quite frankly, she didn't know what she expected out of this encounter, and if she turned out to be wrong, she would ruin a lifetime of friendship. Even so, Haruka was tired of the things she couldn't explain away so skillfully. "Maybe I could even accept it…"

She wasn't so cowardly to avoid the truth, and this, it was reality…even if she couldn't pinpoint the outcome that would happen because of it. "Sorry, Yukino…" Haruka murmured, catching Yukino's lips with her own. Uncertain, and weakened by the shorter woman, she could feel Yukino's fingers tremble as they weaved their way into long, golden locks. She could taste the salty tears, the complete frozen shock, the quaking of unsteadiness.

Yukino lost her balance as Haruka gathered her in a tight embrace. "Forgive me." Haruka begged heatedly.

"There's nothing to forgive." Yukino replied, amazed by the shadows that began to dwell around them.

"Yeah, there is." Haruka sighed, lifting the shorter girl up, and laying her on the empty teacher's desk. Haruka trailed her fingers over the school uniform that was nearly confining, the sun reflecting off of Yukino's glasses as she pulled them off the girl's face, leaning over her. "Is this really what you want for yourself?"

Yukino's answer was simple, she grabbed the tie around Haruka's neck, pulling her down for a heated kiss, as the sun disappeared behind the hilly mountain in the distance, leaving them cloaked in the unknown, grey darkness.


End file.
